Never Ending Universe
by Squall 'Tabuukilla' Lione
Summary: An expansion/rewrite from the same scene in Phantasy Star Portable 2 Infinity: A Novelization. When Nagisa presents herself as the threat, it forces Alex between two options. One: Kill Nagisa, or Two: Find a way out for both of them to survive. Or maybe, just maybe, he'll find a third option.


**Well, I thought this scene could use a little reworking, so I decided to try it once again! Hooray! Yeah, same thing if you read my Infinity's Novelization, but this time written a lot better.**

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**Never Ending Universe**

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_CLANG!_

Metal clashing with metal , sparks flying as I raised my shield, barely keeping it in place with both hands. Nagisa's kick had knocked the wind out of me and I hadn't yet the chance to catch my breath. I also somewhat regret teaching her how to disarm an opponent, seeing as the Holy Elsydeon lay across the room, still glowing its radiant golden light.

"Why?" I asked, rolling out of the way, putting my Artemis away in favor for Excalibur. The shining silver blade gleamed in the light as I used it to block Nagisa's gun blade, Steel Hearts.

"Whatever do you mean, Alexander?" she asked back as I shifted my weight to block another strike. Her technique was sloppy, leaving so many points to counterattack, but I knew I shouldn't do it. This was unlike her in so many ways as well.

Nagisa was a soldier, first and foremost, or at least that's what it seemed like. She had discipline, resourcefulness, and all the like, with a hint of some obliviousness that I found rather cute at times. If she was in her normal state of mind, she wouldn't be like this.

I didn't want to fight her like this, though. I would've done anything to talk things out, but she threatened to harm Emilia. When that didn't work, she threatened to kill the members of Little Wing that she had knocked unconscious. That did me in.

Though I couldn't figure out why we were having this fight- Duck underneath a sword slice!- she had been able to do this at any time so far, so why _now? _What was so important about needing to die now?

"Hurry up and kill me already!" she snarled as I put away Excalibur and took out my Twin Kamui dagger set, using both of them to block her strike. I grunted underneath the effort, but I held myself together.

"_Don't do it, Alex! Killing Nagisa is wrong!" _Don't tell me what I already know, Emilia! Just give me some time and I'll think of something! I always do!

I have to…

I rebounded off the wall and bounced on Nagisa's head before recovering into a roll and getting up just in time to block another strike. Damnit, she's fast!

"_Stop it Alex!"_

"Just do it already!"

Stop throwing my focus out of whack you two! I can't concentrate on thinking of a solution where we all get out alive if you two are yelling at me to kill you and then not to kill! Ugh, I need to buy myself some time! Stun Traps, do I have any left?! Okay, I've got one left!

"_Alex don't hurt her!"_

"Trying not to, Emilia!" I grumbled, fumbling around in my pocket as I took out the small device and threw it at her, detonating it as she tried to avoid it. Great! That gives me what, three seconds? "Why are you doing this, Nagisa?"

"It's my mission!" she shot back.

"_Then you're doing it wrong!" _Emilia shouted. Emilia, stop provoking her! She might do something that will force me to counter-kill!

"She's right!" I tried to sound calm as I dodged the pale-skinned, dark haired girl's gun blade, "There's another way! There has to be!"

"I… am not wrong!" she leapt up into the air and I barely managed to roll out of the way as she brought her gun blade down.

Had I been standing there a half second ago I'd be nothing but two halves of flesh.

The metal floor had been dented from the impact. I knew Dumans were strong but this is crazy!

The battle continued as I desperately tried to block her assault, not having the time to pull out World of Guardians. My arms were getting tired and sore from the heavy blows she dealt with her sword, and it became increasingly harder not to take any hits.

This isn't what Nagisa truly is, right? There's no way that's true! This has to be the fragments taking over, because the Nagisa I know was a woman who put up a cold shoulder act but inside was still a bright, smiling soul that could light up the room.

It's why I had fallen for her in the first place, the first time she smiled. It was a beautiful sight.

However, those memories were tarnished by the fighting that was going on right now.

My daggers were knocked out of my hands, and luckily the Holy Eslydeon was within grasp. I got into a fencer's stance with it, pacing backwards while keeping out of Steel Heart's range as Nagisa edged closer. No one swung a blade for a full minute as we just looked at each other. I could see she had regret, sadness, but also determination.

She had come here to face me and get herself killed, and she wasn't going to stop until she died.

What had caused her to become so full of despair, to believe the only way out was to get herself killed? We had always found another way, hadn't we? Every task that seemed impossible we had found a way to _make _it possible. This just wasn't like Nagisa at all!

I kept on pleading her to stop, to just put her blade down and explain, but she refused every time. I couldn't just stop though, and kept on hoping and begging, that maybe one of my heart's pleas would reach the woman that I had fallen for. At this point, I couldn't even hold the light sword steady, my grip wavering and I needed to focus just so I wouldn't drop my blade.

I could see her hands quivering as well. She didn't want this, not at all, but it was something that she needed to do, apparently. But there has to be another way! I won't kill her, I simply can't! How am I supposed to kill someone I love?!

The battle went on as she charged forward recklessly. I sidestepped it and brought my blade up just in case she spun around.

"_Nagisa!" _Emilia's sorrow stricken voice cried through the speakers, _"Please… stop this!"_

My heart was torn at this point. Would I make the choice for the probably great good and end Nagisa's life… or would I cling to the very end and hope that there was a way for us to be together and still battle whatever evil there was? The first option was so _easy _and _simple, _but would I risk Emilia hating me forever and the guilt that would follow me to the grave and probably past the grave into the next life about killing Nagisa? Or would I nearly condemn the universe to utter destruction because I had fallen for the woman who had so much of Dark Falz inside of her and didn't want her to die? Would I place the universe on the chopping block… or Nagisa?

There simply was no choice. I would not allow Nagisa to be killed. Universe be damned, it ain't a world worth living in if I had to kill Nagisa!

I danced around her strokes with her sword, trying to seemingly 'counterattack' but making sure every swing would miss. I just need to buy myself some time!

My thoughts were interrupted by a punch to the face, and time seemed to freeze as our skin made contact.

Right… I'm still partially infected by the SEED even if I managed to get it sealed inside of me and control it… but why is this happening?

We had never actually made skin-to-skin contact before. I had always worn gloves because it was just a habit and we both remained professional, emotions not getting in the way of the mission.

Memories… no, not memories, but rather _thoughts _flooded my head. Were these… Nagisa's fantasies? Things she wanted? I saw… me? We were… sitting in a cherry blossom filled area, grass as green as you could imagine. And then… we kissed-

The contact was broken as the image shattered into a million pieces. Nagisa looked shocked as she stepped away from me, as if I was going to attack. What had _she _seen from me?

"You… no… it's not possible…" she breathed out in whispers, "No one… there's nothing to love about me…" Oh. She had seen my feelings for her.

Suddenly Nagisa dropped her weapon and grabbed her head, wailing, "It's not possible! Just make the suffering stop! I don't want to hurt you anymore! Just end it here already!"

My sword made a loud clanging sound as I dropped it.

"Very well…" I took out the PeaceMaker handgun, my hands wavering and getting colder every passing seconds as if I was willing my brain to cut off circulation to my hands to prevent me from doing this.

"_Alexander no!"_

"I'm sorry, Nagisa," I could here the sounds of the members of Little Wing stirring behind Nagisa. Aiming the handgun…

The metal barrel felt cold against my head, as if draining the fire of life from me before I even pulled the trigger.

"Alex, what are you playing at?" she shakily grabbed her weapon, "I'm your target!"

"…I can't kill you Nagisa, you know why," my voice became dead serious.

"Stop lying!" she screeched, "No one can love me! It's impossible… You'll only end up getting hurt…" Ah, there's the Nagisa I know. The one who would never, _never _do anything to hurt a person. She refused to hit human targets without some sort of justification that could become a fully fledged argument. That's the Nagisa I know.

"But still, I'm willing to risk it," I gave a wry grin, "I want to be with you Nagisa… and if you have to die for the world to be saved, then let me go with you."

"_Alex, wait!"_

"Little Wing's waking up. They'll see me, dead, and you were attacking… they'll show no mercy. It all works out."

"Alex, no! You can still li-"

_**Bang.**_

The warm, light charged bullet passed through my skull, and I hit the ground with a grand, resounding _crack!_

"Alex!" Nagisa sobbed as the blood oozing from my head flowed. I watched it flow, starting to dirty her white clothes, "No… it wasn't supposed to be like this!" she kneeled over me and pounded my chest, "Damnit! I was supposed to be lying there, not you! You could have lived-"

_**BANG!**_

A red stain suddenly filled Nagisa's chest as she slumped over onto me.

"Yes…" she sighed as she realized who had shot her, her mood shifting, "Gurhal is safe…"

"…"

"Alex…" she whispered as we lay on the floor, dying, "There must be so much that you have questions for…"

"Yeah," I chuckled weakly, feeling like I was about to die.

"We can answer them… next life. Meet you there, alright?"

"Kiss me goodbye?" I teased. Hey, just because I'm dying doesn't mean I can't have a little fun.

"Only if you pay me back three times as much when you get there," she giggled, planting a soft kiss on my cheek, "…Thank you… Alex."

"I love you, Nagisa." I manage to say as the golden light begins to wrap us both.

"It'll be alright…" Nagisa says to Little Wing, just before it all goes white.

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A sobbing Emilia told them what had happened. Everything from when Alex decided to take on Nagisa, how the battle lasted, and finally… Alex's decision to take his own life as to get Little Wing to take Nagisa's in misguided revenge, all because he couldn't kill the woman he had fallen for. What monster could, anyways?

It had been three years since then. No more SEED incidents, the only sort of bad things happening now were a rare crime every now and then.

"Do you think he's happy?" Kraz asked as he looked at the memorial of the two. There was a statue in the middle, of Nagisa wielding her gun blade and Alex with his spear, back to back, ready to fight. Behind it was the one picture that had both of them in it, which was when Little Wing had hosted a party in order to better know some of the new GUARDIAN leaders they'd be working with in joint operations.

"You ask that everyday." Ursula, his wife, said as she wrapped his arm around his, "From what Emilia said, he died happy. He did, after all, manage to have a way where both sides won. He went with Nagisa past the grave, but together, and then took Dark Falz with him."

"…Still, was he happy with that?"

An invisible to the naked eye figure approached them from behind, looking exactly like the man who was engraved into the statue.

"_Thank you," _he said, patting the purple coated man on the back, even if he couldn't feel it, before vanishing into the sunlight that filtered through the windows.

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**So, I decided to expand the story a little bit, not as short as when I wrote it up in Infinity.**


End file.
